


all I want for Christmas is a divorce (is you)

by thecomebackkids99



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Au Olicity, CEO Felicity Smoak, Car Accident, Dealing with bad memories, Exes, F/M, Have to stay alive by cuddling, Rekindled Relationships, Snow Storm, because why not, mayor queen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-15 05:05:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13023822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecomebackkids99/pseuds/thecomebackkids99
Summary: Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak divorced over a year ago. But just a few days before Christmas, the tabloids dig up a juicy tidbit: the divorce was never finalized. Which causes a few fights, an exasperated friend or two to say something crazy, and an awkward car ride that brings the bitterness, the pain, and the truth to light.Because Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak are technically still married.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written a Christmas fic before (I don't think I have), but this story was going to be my Secret Santa gift. Which didn't work out. So I decided that I might as well post the story here! This is based off of a Denise Hunter novel. I'll be updating every few days until Christmas. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> The chapters will be a little shorter than normal, since I'm not going to wait a week to update. :)

This wasn’t possible. It wasn’t happening. But it was. Because of course. Oliver Queen dropped the newspaper onto his desk and leaned back in his chair. Why? After a year and a half of peace, it happened now. “This isn’t fair.” He rubbed his hands over his face, scraping his palms against his unshaven cheeks. “Wasn’t that enough?”

“Ollie?” His sister burst into his office, looking frazzled and yes, annoyed. “What the heck am I reading on the news?”

“I don’t know, Speedy.” The headline stared at him as if it wanted to tick him off even more. _Breaking News: Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak are still married!_ After they went through the divorce and everything else that came with it. He got the car, she got the Loft. They didn’t have much to split up. William came with him. Everything else was easy.

“I thought you got divorced.”

“We did!” He swallowed the panic coursing through his body. Or maybe they hadn’t. “We did, Thea. At least I thought we did.”

“Which begs to question: how did the press for one, come up with this, and two, if they didn’t, how are they just now figuring it out?”

“I don’t know. Don’t look at me.”

“I _am_ looking at you, Ollie.” Thea collapsed into the seat opposite him and shot him a sisterly, but also motherly look. “This is a PR disaster. You’re the Mayor, she’s got the biggest company in the city. This sucks for both of you. So…”

“I am _not_ going to talk to her.”

“Well, you’re gonna have to. Because clearly something got messed up in the process, and you’re still married.”

Oliver rolled his eyes, spun his chair around, and let out a loud groan. He couldn’t do this. Getting the divorce papers served to him, signing, and moving out of their house were the hardest moments he’d faced. And he’d dealt with a lot. Over the past year and a half, he’d moved on. Attempted to, at least. He went out to dinner with one woman, said it wouldn’t work, and spent most of his off-work moments with his sister, his son, and their dog. Still, memories of his wife came at him over and over again, making it impossible for him to be truly happy.

And all this time, they were still married.

“You need to talk to her.”

“I…I can’t.”

“I know.” The chair squeaked as she stood up and walked to him. “She’s…I don’t know. But if you want to get this figured out, you have to talk to her. Even if it sucks. For both of your sakes.” She leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “And since I know you’re thinking it, I’m not going to take care of this for you.”

He was thinking it, but wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of that knowledge. “I’ll handle it.”

“Good. I’ll clear your schedule for you.”

“I have to go _now_?”

“Do you want people over in China to hear about this?” When he shook his head, she pointed at the door. “So go.”

He should be thankful for her. She’d gotten him through a lot of dark days, and she babysat William when he needed to sleep. Or cry. But right now, he didn’t want anyone telling him what to do. He wanted to lay on the couch and sleep or go to the gym to pound his frustrations out on a punching bag. But it wasn’t possible. He _had_ to go; he knew that. But did he have to do this at her company? Where he’d spent so many hours loving her?

That thought brought images to his mind that he didn’t want to think about. Or see.

Oliver grunted as he pushed himself up, grabbed his phone, and took the side exit so he could avoid seeing people. He didn’t want to see anyone. If someone tried to be sweet with him right now… _calm, Queen_. He just had to talk to her, figure out if she had something to do with it, and then be on his way.

What if she did have something to do with it? She never approved of him being the Mayor, and just as his approval ratings went up, this dropped. Just after pictures surfaced of her getting coffee with a guy, this happened. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. By the time he pulled into the Smoak Technologies parking lot, he wanted to march in, scream, and then march out.

It would take everything in him to not do exactly that.

                                                            *******

“Jerry, I really do need that data about Kord Industries porotype on my desk.” Felicity Smoak, ex-Queen, walked along the corridor, her heels clicking on the tile. She nearly bonked into the glass doors, but recovered well enough that she didn’t miss a step. “And I needed that an hour ago. What the heck is going on?”

“Miss Smoak!” Jerry jerked away from his computer, which moved three other employees from behind the desk. “We didn’t expect to see you…right now. Or for a while, actually.”

“Why not?”

“Because, uh…you haven’t seen the news lately, have you?”

“No. Of course not. I don’t watch the news, because it depresses me.” A pit formed in her stomach the longer she stood in her position. They looked at her with that deer-in-the-headlights look that only spelled trouble. “What’s going on?”

“You should probably come look at this.” Jerry moved everyone out of the way so that she could walk around the desk and stare at the gossip headline.

“Oh dear Lord.”

“You can say that again.”

“Shut up, Jerry.” She pulled him out of his seat and dropped down to the chair so that she didn’t fall to the ground. _Breaking News: Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak are still married!_ That wasn’t possible. Not after a year and a half of having no ring on her finger. No dating life, no nothing. Just work to keep her heart from falling apart any more than it already had. “This is impossible.”

“It’s all over the news.”

“Of course. I’m the CEO of the biggest company in Starling, and Mr. Queen is the mayor.” She wasn’t saying his name. Think it, yes. But never say it again. “Everything’s a big deal.” Just as she finished speaking, there was a skirmish outside the door. Yelling, scuffling, then more yelling. She released a long sigh and dropped her head onto the desk. _Why?_ Just as her life was starting to be relatively normal again, this happened.

“I said _let me through_!”

Oliver. Oh, frack. “Oliver. Mr. Queen!” She wanted to run and hide. But no, she was stuck in her office with her employees, her ex-husband twenty feet from her for the first time in over a year. “Jerry, get everyone else out of here. I’m going to deal with…this.”

“This as in your husband?”

“My _ex_!” She was already losing her cool and she wasn’t even in the same room with him yet. “Please, Jerry. Get out.” Her hiss got him and the three other employees out, just before Oliver burst through the door. She sucked in a deep breath, channeled her inner ex-mother-in-law, and smiled through her clenched teeth. “Hello, Mr. Queen.”

“Miss Smoak.” He looked like ready to drive her through the glass behind her. “What. Have. You. Done?”  

“What have I done?” She went from being Moira Queen to a Smoak. Standing—sitting— in the same room with the man who she used to share a bed with. The one who she used to love so much. And now she could barely hold her temper with him around. “Somehow something happened and we’re still married, and you’re blaming me?”

He placed his hands on the desk and leaned forward, getting way too close to her for her brain and heart’s liking. And her eyes. Jeez a wheez. He hadn’t stopped working out. If anything, the weight lifting increased since she last saw him. _Get a grip, Felicity_. He was trying to intimidate her, but it wouldn’t work. No way. She’d gone through this before, and he wasn’t getting under her skin this time.

His muscles flexed as he leaned closer to her. “For some reason, I feel like you have something to do with that.”

“I do not!” Enough sitting. She wasn’t even close to his height, but she hated the idea of being in the chair with him standing above her, trying to be scary. “Ol—Mr. Queen, I’m just as shocked as you are, and we need to get this figured out. Like…right now.”

He sucked in a deep breath and pulled away from the desk. His handles settled on his hips as he turned away from her. Wow, those…she squeezed her eyes shut and counted to ten. Nope. She wasn’t going to do it. When she opened her eyes again, he stared at her with those hard, glinty eyes that she used to love so much. “Where are your set of divorce papers?”

“Do I look like someone who has my divorce papers hung up on the wall of my office?”

That stumped him for a second. “No. But…I have no idea where mine are. Something went wrong, and that might tell us what.”

He’d softened his voice, but her heart hadn’t budged. “Of course you can’t find yours. You can never find anything.”

“Yeah. I never can. Especially three years ago when I met you.”

That stung. Too much, actually. She just wanted to curl up and cry, but no. Not with him standing in her room. Office. Not room. _Pull it together, Felicity_. It wouldn’t be that bad. If anything, the judge didn’t sign their document. Then they’d have to resign it, give it the judge again, and this whole thing would blow over.

Except life never went that way. “I’ll…look at my place. I’m sure it’s around there somewhere. And I’ll look. I’m sure it’s somewhere around there.” Now she was repeating herself. She needed him out of here. He was too intoxicating. Too annoying. Too everything. “Please leave my office.”

His eyebrows rose.

“Oliver! We’re divorced. That’s finished. Now get out of my office because…” _Because you’re still super hot and I’m still attracted to you and you’re driving me nuts_. And she wanted to cry about everything in her life. “Because you are not my husband anymore, and I don’t want a kissing session. So go. I will contact you if I find the papers.”

With that, he left. Felicity slowly collapsed to the chair and clutched her hands to her heart. It hurt. To look at him and see all of the moments they shared together. Not just the intimate ones. The times they hung out in her office and chatted about their day. That one time they spent the night in one of the store rooms, just watching Hallmark Christmas movies.

That was exactly two years ago. Why did she have such a good memory?

The ache wasn’t ever going to go away. That’s what sucked about marriage, she discovered. She gave her heart to a man who had a hard time giving even his head to her, let alone his heart. Taking her soul back from him—separating the one soul they’d become—was impossible. It was always there. A mark on her register.

“Alright, Felicity. Get your butt off the chair.” She pushed herself up, wiped her eyes, and stumbled out of her office. Time to go home. Back to her house. It would never be home.

It took her ten minutes to find the papers. They were wedged in between the dresser and the wall. Probably where she flung them. She considered just calling Oliver, but a quick check at her phone confirmed it was dead. Plus, she didn’t want to click on his name. More memories.

So she put her coat and hat on again and headed towards his apartment. Hopefully he would be home. If not, she could lay it on the ground and hope that he could figure it out on his own. Even though she could. But she didn’t want to.

The door opened on the second knock. Oliver stood there, hair disheveled, shirt unbuttoned. He was holding a beer. She almost grabbed it out of his hand and chugged it down, but she enjoyed wine much more. That, and chic-flicks.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to deliver this.” She stuck the papers out towards him. “I found them. Now deal with it.” As soon as he grasped them, she spun on her heel and marched down the hall, but came to a screeching halt when Oliver called her name. “What?”

“If you don’t want your name to be forever tarnished, you and I need to figure out why we’re still married.”

“Ha.” She rolled her eyes. “My name is already tarnished. I married you, remember?”

“Very funny.” His eyes shot fireworks at her, but he opened the door wider. “Uh…William’s here.”

“Ahh, the good Queen.” She snapped at him as she walked into the apartment. It looked better than her place. Decorated well, clean, and it smelled good. Oliver was always the one who could make a plain little house look beautiful. _Enough of that_. She needed to get through the next twenty minutes, not fawn over this pretty apartment. “It should be pretty simple. But how come the media just found about this?”

“I’ve been wondering the same thing.” His hard glare got into her taught nerves.

“I’m telling you. I did not leak this!”

“Really? Because my approval ratings already went down.”

“Oliver!” She whacked her hand on the counter. Two years ago, that noise would’ve included the sound of her ring hitting the granite. Tonight, she refused to let herself think about that for more than half a second. “For heaven’s sakes! I hate you, but I don’t want to wreck your career. Don’t you get that?”

“No. I don’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because you didn’t approve of me being mayor. You didn’t approve—”

“That has nothing to do with it!” She almost snapped something else, but a door creaked open and soft footsteps reached them. _Frack_. She turned around and smiled at William, who stared at her with wide eyes. “Hi.”

“You’re Felicity?”

“Uh, yeah. I am.”

“Oh.” His eyes shifted around the room, exactly like Oliver’s gaze. “Dad, why are you two yelling?”

“It’s a long story. But if you could go back to your room and give us a moment alone, that would help.”

“Okay. But…” he glanced at the newspaper laying on the counter. “Is this true?”

Her heart went out to the boy. She could imagine the worry and pain going on in his head right now. She was about that age when her dad left. There were no newspaper stories, but she dealt with the shame of no longer having a father. People laughed at her. Told her she wasn’t worth it. William had a different experience, but it was still the same in terms of the hurt and pain.

“Buddy…” Oliver sighed and approached his son. “I don’t exactly know how to explain this to you. Ultimately, it’s not. It’s just the tabloids, digging up whatever they can. You get that, right?”

“Y-Yeah. I guess so.”

“We can talk about it later.” He ruffled his son’s hair, that cold, hard demeanor gone from moments ago. Now he smiled and laughed when William wrapped his arms around him. “Go play some video games. That’s an order.”

“You don’t ever let me play video games right now.” He grinned. “Thanks!”

Felicity couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm. And at Oliver’s parenting. Two years ago, she never would’ve imagined that she would be standing here, watching this. But it was special, even as it dredged up memories.

 _She didn_ _’t_ _know how to process anything. Oliver_ _…_ _had a son. Who he_ _’_ _d hidden for at least a year. Maybe more._ _How was she supposed to respond to this? Go home and demand to know the truth? He would lie more. Just like he always did._

 _That last truth hit her right in her damaged soul. The one that was falling apart quicker than her first car. She pulled the vehicle over on the highway, turned the blinkers on, and started to sob. She cried until her heart couldn_ _’_ _t cry more, but_ _then she cried more. How could she not? The truth that her husband hid something from her for this long would never go away. Ever. Not as long as they were together. And longer after that._

“Felicity!”

She blinked several times at her name. “What?”

“I asked if we can talk quieter so that William doesn’t hear.”

“Yeah. Yeah, we can do that.” _Get a grip_. She gave her head a shake. “I don’t want to do this right now.”

“Neither do I, but we need to get this figured out. Before Christmas.”

“Before Christmas? Got a cute girlfriend coming into town?”

Oliver huffed. “I haven’t dated since we broke up.”

“Not broke up. We got divorced.”

“What’s the difference?”

“It hurts more.” That sounded cheesy and heart-revealing, but he needed to know that. “Breaking up is a couple months of moping around. Divorcing is a couple years of brokenness. At least.”

“ _You_ filed for divorce.”

“After you hid…” Oliver’s face went from angry to panicky. He didn’t want William to hear. She was angry, but not a psychopath. As much as she sometimes wished she was. “I’m going to leave now. You still have my number, so you call me. For now, I’m going to work up a statement. You’d better too, if we want to survive this.” With that, she grabbed her purse and walked out. Quickly enough that he wouldn’t see her tears. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter!!! Hope you enjoy this. It's a good amount of words this time for everybody. :P I'm going to throw it out there because some people will find issue with this somehow: this story is not supposed to follow correctness. I know that judges probably (almost definitely) don't sign divorce papers up at their cabin. This isn't about that. This is a Christmas story that's going to show Oliver and Felicity going through hell, but they're going to learn some things about each other. And it's going to be awesome. :)

She left before she saw his tears. He leaned against the counter and squeezed his eyes shut, but that failed to keep them at bay. They never should’ve gotten married. Or maybe he never should’ve hid his son. All of it was wrong. Every little thing that he did was wrong, and he hadn’t just hurt himself.

He destroyed the one woman he ever loved.

“Dad?” William peeked out of his bedroom. “Can I come out now?”

“Sure, bud.” No use hiding the tears. “Sorry you had to hear that.”

“I turned on some music, so I didn’t. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Mom says that crying means not fine.”

He couldn’t say that his son’s mother was wrong, so he nodded. “I guess so.”

“So you’re not okay?”

 _Give me words_. He took a deep breath and stared at the Christmas tree that he, Samantha, Thea, and William put up a few weeks ago. His son knew about the divorce, but he would never know about the real reason for it. Not when it involved him, even though it wasn’t his fault. It was his dad’s stupidity. “I’m not really okay, bud. But I’ll be fine. Just give me a few minutes, okay?” William nodded, so he grabbed his phone and headed outside. The cold air usually calmed him down, but tonight it reminded him of the proposal.

_His foot slipped first, and his weight brought her right down with him. They landed hard in a pile of snow, but it didn't even feel cold. Her laughing warmed his cold heart—and butt—up. He looked up into her sparkling eyes, the pressure of her body pushing the little box into his skin. So much for that fancy dinner he had planned. Screw waiting. He didn't want to wait any longer. “Uh, Felicity?”_

_“What?_

_“I need you to move off my right side for a second."_

_Alarm rose in her expression. “Did I hurt you?”_

_"Nope. I just need to get something from my pocket.”_

_"Interesting.” She rolled off that side which allowed him to pull the box out of his pocket, but it dropped onto the ground. As he fumbled on the ground, she sucked in a deep breath and let out a little 'oh'. Which wasn't a great sign._

_“Felicity?" His fingers weren't cooperating, thanks to the cold. His girlfriend's eyes hadn't gotten any smaller during his struggle. But then she giggled. He huffed and dropped the box to the ground again. "I had a nice plan."_

_“You say the words; I'll open the box." Felicity set it on his chest. “Unless it's a pair of earrings. Which would be okay too. I'm not expecting a ring. Defintiely not! I'm just … this seems like a proposal moment. But if it's not then that's okay—”_

_“Felicity." He laughed her name as she continued to ramble. What a woman. “Of course I’m proposing. Unless you don't want me to. ”_

_“No! I want you to propose!  Her yelling drew the attention of a few kids several feet from them. Her mouth clamped shut, and then she counted to ten. Her fingers tapped on his chest, her eyes glued shut. “I...want you to propose. Please."_

_“Now that you asked so nicely.” He laughed when she whacked him. Enough being funny. He needed his head for this proposal. That he completely forgot. Funny how she was always the speak-in-sentence-fragments person, but with her, he turned into a bumbling, stumbling man who couldn't get a word out that sounded correct. All because he was too lost in her. “Felicity...you are the reason that I'mm happy right now. And you are the reason that I am going to continue being happy for the rest of my life. You ’ ve changed everything, and now I want you to be my wife. So..." he had such a nice proposal speech planned. “ This was supposed to sound better.”_

_"It sounds amazing." Tears shone in her eyes._

_“That's the thing." He caressed her cheek, a smile gracing his face now. Bigger than ever. “You do that to me, honey. You make me turn into a pile of mush with you. And that ’ s one of my favorite things about you. So, Felicity Megan Smoak,” he took the ring from the opened box that she held, “Will you marry me?"_

She said yes. They spent too long kissing on the ground that night that they had to cancel their reservation at a fancy restaurant because their clothes were wet.

Oliver dropped to the bench right outside the apartment building and rubbed his hands over his face. This was a disaster. He loved Felicity. Maybe he still did. But it would never work. They learned that as a married couple. They needed to move on, and maybe part of the reason they couldn’t was because they were still married. Somehow. The very thought made his blood boil. Stupid tabloids.

But better now than when one of them actually got married again.

Thankfully, Thea picked up on the second ring. “Hey, Ollie. You okay?”

“I’m fine. Felicity came over with the divorce papers.”

“She came over? William’s there this week, isn’t he?”

“Calm down, Speedy. She was cordial. And he’s not the reason she left.”

“No, he’s not. It was the boy’s father who did the damage. We both know that.”

“Thanks for that.”

“Sorry. Thing is, Ollie…I don’t know.” She released a long sigh. “I don’t know anything anymore. We just need to get this figured out, and move on. Maybe you should become the Mayor of Central City instead.”

“Felicity’s best friends all live there.”

“Maybe they’ve forgiven you.”

“Think logically, Thea. Not wishfully.”

“It _is_ the Christmas season.”

She watched too many Hallmark movies with that idiot boyfriend of hers. He would refer to him as that until he proved otherwise, and then ‘idiot’ would change to ‘dumb’. There wasn’t much that could convince him of that being wrong. “Just…I’m going to send you a picture of the papers, and I need you to look at them, okay?”

“Can’t you? Roy and I are going out to eat tonight.”

“I don’t want to look at them.”

There was a long pause and then an, “Ahhh.”

Oliver rolled his eyes and hung up. Nope. He didn’t need Thea to tell him what he already knew. He still cared about Felicity Smoak, but it would never mean anything. He ruined his chance. He ruined it back when he slept with Samantha, and he ruined it again the moment he chose to lie about William. How stupid he was. Thinking that she would leave him because of his son and the mistakes he made.

None of it mattered anymore.

His phone lit up with a text from William. _You comin in?_

Oliver mustered up a smile as he responded. _Almost. Find a movie to watch._ He would put on a happy face for his son, and Thea would take care of that problem. For now.

                                                            *******

“Murder will put you in jail, remember.” Felicity rolled her eyes at Barry’s ‘I don’t care; it would be worth it’ remark. “You also have Iris. And the wonder twins.”

“The tornado twins, Felicity.”

“Oh, I’m sorry that I can’t keep up with your nicknames for them.” She stared at her computer screen and muttered a swear word. “Don’t ask.”

“I don’t need to ask. I know.”

“Aren’t you smart.”

“Felicity.” Barry sighed. She could hear Iris in the background, burping one of the twins. It never bothered her. Never, ever, ever. Having a family with a man just wasn’t going to happen. Especially with Oliver. She understood that, and she was okay with it. Until tonight. Her heart clenched, and then shattered into a hundred pieces. Tears and more tears seeped out of her eyes. Enough that Barry noticed over the phone.

“You are not okay, are you?”

“I’m…not.”

“Want us to come over there?” At that, one of the twins let out a scream. Then the other one started. Felicity just cried harder, and hung up. She was done with that. It didn’t matter how much she loved them. Problem was that there was no one else to call. Cisco, but he posted on Instagram about going out on a date. She was desperate, but not desperate enough to break up something like that.

Everyone deserved their happy moments on Christmas.

Instead, she took her computer and wrote a statement from ‘Felicity Smoak, CEO of Smoak Technologies’. _I am shocked to hear about the recent revelation about my previous marriage. Oliver Queen and I are not married anymore, despite reports. We divorced a year and a half ago, and have maintained a civil relationship since then. I ask for the privacy from the media and fans as I figure out who leaked this incorrect information. Thank you_.

She sent it to Jerry to edit, and then uploaded it to their social media page. That would settle all the smart people down. Not the idiots of the world. But she wasn’t going into work tomorrow and answering questions from paparazzi who of course would be waiting for her.

Maybe she _should_ go out with Ray Palmer. That would put to rest any questions.

                                                            ******

Oliver woke up to his phone buzzing. He wiped his eyes as he reached for it, muttering about the stupidness of someone calling in the middle of the night. When he read the ID, his heartrate picked up. It was never good if his sister called in the middle of the night. The last time that happened, she called to tell him their parents were dead. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine.” She seemed surprised. “Sorry for calling so late. I couldn’t fall asleep, so I went through your divorce papers, and I figured out the problem.”

“Please be an easy fix.”

“Define easy.”

“As in we can mail it to the tabloids and prove that we’re divorced.”

“You’re not.”

He swung his legs over the bed and walked out to the living room. At least he didn’t have any good memories with Felicity here. “How are we not? We signed the papers; that’s all we needed to do.”

“All _you_ needed to do. The judge didn’t sign them, and he’s the one who takes care of the last hurrah.”

He didn’t know what to think. Or say. The judge hadn’t signed them. No wonder they were married, but why didn’t he sign the papers? It took ten seconds.

“I was a little suspicious about the whole situation, so I looked the guy up. It was right after you sent those papers in that he had a heart attack and spent three months in rehab. There might be more divorces not signed; I don’t know. But that’s the reason you’re technically still married.”

Thea spared him the time thinking that Felicity might have had something to do with it. But why would she? Any woman would want to get as far away from him as soon as possible. Especially Felicity. When they started dating, he wanted to prove to her that all men weren’t like her father. But he ended up proving just that. “Did…did you find a solution?”

“Yep. You need to sign a new one, and then get him to sign it.”

He knew her well enough to know when her voice spoke more than her words did. “What’s the catch?”

“He’s up at his cabin for the next three weeks. In the mountains.”

Christmas was supposed to be a time for miracles, not this. Oliver muttered several swear words in a row, but it did nothing to curb his frustration. At everything. “So you’re saying that if we want this done before Christmas, we need to drive up there and get him to sign it?”

“Basically.”

Another string of swear words that he would yell at William for saying. “We need to get this done. I can’t go one more day knowing that we are legally still married.” He flipped the TV on and went to one of the sports channels. Felicity hated the idea of sports, but when he gave her his puppy eyes, she would relent and watch a game or two with him. They spent most of the time cuddling instead of actually watching.

He turned the TV off.

“I can try to contact him and see if he would take care of it if you went up there?”

“Oh, I’m not going up there. She is too.”

“Okay. Fine. I can arrange that. But you have to call her.”

“I will. Thank you.” He said goodnight and tossed the phone beside him. He would miss a full day with his son because of this. He and Samantha agreed on a week at her house, then a week at his. William would be here for Christmas, and then he’d spend New Year’s at his mom’s. It was an unconventional way of living, and sometimes he laid in bed and wished he did things the right way as a younger man, but this was the product of their mistakes. And this was the best they could do.

He waited until the sun peeked up the horizon before he called Samantha. They talked about the situation for a few minutes, before he asked if they could do a switcheroo and she could come here for the day while he went up the mountains. “It shouldn’t take that long, but you never know. Especially around now.”

“I can do that, Oliver.” She seemed relieved. They both wanted to see William a lot more than they actually did. “Text me whenever you find out what’ll be going on, and I’ll head over.”

Next, he called Felicity.

“It’s seven o’ clock in the _frickin’ morning_ , and I haven’t had my coffee yet. A _n_ d it’s Christmas Eve.”

She didn’t realize it was him. Oliver took that moment to cherish her grumbly voice that wasn’t mad at him. Just annoyed that he called too early. “Uh…hi. It’s Oliver.”

“Oh.” Her voice darkened to the point of anger. So much for just being upset about the early call. “What do you want?”

“Thea figured out the problem.”

“And?”

“The judge never signed the document.”

“Hmmm.” The sink turned on in the background. “Just our luck.” She started her toothbrush, and then her words got jumbled. But he could still understand them, because she used to do this all the time. He would shower, and she would brush her teeth and put her makeup on. Sometimes, when she was on a business trip, she would call him during that time just to say hi. “What are we supposed to do? Cuz I don’t want to be married anymore, especially to you.”

“I know.”

“So?”

“The judge is up at his cabin for the next few weeks in the mountains.”

“Frack.” Or it could’ve been the other word that started with ‘f’. But he always thought her use of ‘frack’ was cute, so he assumed she said that. “We need to go up there.” She spit out the toothpaste, then washed her mouth out. “As soon as possible.”

“I already called Samantha, and she’s going to take care of William so we can go up there. Thea can take care of my stuff today.” Not that there would be much to do today. It was Christmas Eve. “We’re going to disrupt a poor guy’s celebration with his family.”

“It’ll only take a few minutes. And then we’ll be free.”

“Yeah. I’ll call you when I’m ready to go.” With that, he hung up. This was stupid. Having to drive up to the mountains on Christmas Eve with his ex-wife to find a judge because they were still married. It sounded like a Hallmark movie. One of the really stupid ones.

“Hey, Dad.” William came out of his room, bleary-eyed. “Did you sleep okay?”

“I did. You?”

“I’m excited for tomorrow.” He plopped down on the couch next to him. “Do you think that I could sleep all day and then wake up in the morning?”

“I think you could sleep all day, but then you’d be up all night. So that defeats the purpose.”

“Majorly.” He slumped forward to grump. “Can I watch movies all day?”

“You can only do that if you’re on your deathbed. Which won’t be happening for at least eighty-eight more years, so nope. And actually, you’re gonna spend the day with your mom.” To his credit, William didn’t react. But they all knew that he ultimately enjoyed spending more time with the person who raised him longer.

“Why?”

“The lady who was here last night—”

“Felicity?”

Of course he remembered her name. “Yep. Her. She and I need to take care of something, and it’s going to mean that I’ll be gone until tonight. That okay with you?”

“Will Mom let me watch movies all day?”

“She’ll make you clean all day.” Given the disaster their house was in right now. Raisa was gone for the holidays, and he’d been busy trying to finish up all of his mayoral duties before Christmas. He would’ve taken another three days of crappy work if it meant avoiding this issue. “I’m gonna call her now, and then I’ll head out. Until she gets here, you can watch a movie.”

“Yessss!”

                                                *******

She didn’t need to look nice for this long trek up to the mountain homes, but she also did. At least that’s what she told herself. She put on a nice pair of jeans, a pink t-shirt that was comfortable enough that it wouldn’t be the most annoying thing in the car, and a blue jacket. When Oliver arrived, she stuffed her purse with earbuds, a phone charger, and ran out the door. “Hi.”

“Hey.” He gave her a curt smile as he opened the car door for her. “Do you have the papers?”

“Yep.” She pulled them out of her purse and handed them to him. “Better look over them just in case I pulled something on you.”

“I trust you.” He set them in between them. “Hop in. I want to be back for dinner.”

“I’d rather be home right now.”

“You don’t _have_ to come, y’know.”

“No, but I’d rather see that judge sign those papers so that we know for sure.” She slammed the car door shut just to symbolize her annoyance. “This is ridiculous. It’s been almost two years. What would’ve happened if we tried to get married? One of us! Not _us_. What if one of us tried to get married?”

“I don’t know, Felicity.”

Duh. Of course he didn’t. As far as she could tell, he hadn’t dated since they broke up. Neither had she, but it did bring a terror to her head. ‘What if’ situations were her favorite thing to stress about, and imagining marrying Ray Palmer and then finding out she was still married to Oliver sounded like a good one to consider on their way.

She side-eyed Oliver, his jaw hard, eyes glaring at the road. If he had heat-vision, the asphalt would be ripped up by now. When they were married, this was when she would whack his arm and laugh at him until he smiled. Now, she shifted in her seat so she could just look out the window. Siri talked to them for a couple hours, until they reached they reached the country. Felicity moved from her position as ‘dramatic person staring out the window’ and looked around as Oliver slowed down and pulled into a small gravel parking lot that led to a shed with a chimney eliciting smoke.

“Since I know you want to ask…I need to double check my directions before we lose reception. And the weather.”

She looked up at the sky, its swirling grey skies starting to look ominous. Which wasn’t a great thing. They needed to get this done, no matter what. Even with a snowstorm coming their way. Oliver would turn back if it was supposed to be bad. Yeah, it was safer. But she couldn’t go one more day like this. Knowing that if she and Oliver screwed around in the car, it wouldn’t technically be considered sex outside of marriage. Because they _were_ still married. It wasn’t that she wanted to. It was that they _could_. “You know what? You check directions; I’ll go inside and ask about the weather.”

“Get something to eat too.”

“You trust me enough to not poison you?”

His stare landed hard. “I trust you because you don’t like driving mountain roads.”

That was nice. But true. He remembered that. She entered the shop and, despite the sucky situation, smiled. It smelled like Christmas. Perfect, because it was Christmas Eve. _The First Noel_ played over the speakers as two people dressed in elf costumes greeted her. She said hi, then glanced behind her at their car. Just looking at it made her annoyed. Hurt. Angry. So much for the Christmas spirit.

“Merry Christmas, ma’am. What can we do for you and your travel partner?”

They didn’t know who they were. _Thank you Lord_. She pointed at their car, her mind somehow blank. “Me and my…something…are driving through up to the mountains. Long story short, we need to check the weather, and we also need some food. Whatever ya got is good.” Which was dumb to say, because the whole place was food. “And that’s stupid. Because your building is practically made from food. But we do need something.” She spotted a counter with a pot filled with hot chocolate.

 _“_ _I can_ ' _t believe we_ 'r _e doing this._ _”_ _Felicity kept her hands around the cup of hot chocolate as they walked along the just-cleared sidewalk. It was only obvious because everything else was covered in snow._ _“_ _Like_... _we_ _’_ _re getting married._ _”_

_Oliver held his coffee—because this guy_ _didn’_ _t do hot chocolate—his smile making her smile more. If that were possible. He wrapped one arm around her lower back and pulled her close, warming her up. He was a furnace. It worked perfectly, because she was always freezing. She should'_ _ve known right from the start that they were meant to be._

Felicity pulled herself from that memory with a hard shake. _Not gonna think about that, Smoak_. Never again. But she walked to the counter in search of a second container filled with the more caffeinated, manly drink. “Do you have any coffee? My…” she couldn’t say ex-husband because that would be confusing. “He likes coffee; I like hot chocolate. So if there’s any around here, that’d be great, because he really doesn’t like hot chocolate.”

“Of course we do, ma’am.” The lady pointed around a corner. “We got all sorts of coffees. Whatever you’d like.”

“Perfect. Do you…” for old times sake, “have any whipped cream? Oh! And have you heard anything about the weather?”

She walked out of the shop with a cup of coffee and hot chocolate. And with the knowledge that it was going to be a rough trip up and then down. Oliver thanked her for the coffee before he asked about the weather. _Don_ _’t_ _lie, Felicity Smoak_. Ex-Queen. She could tell him they would have a hard time getting back, even in this vehicle. But they _could_ get there and back before the bad part started. It had to go that way.

She couldn’t go one more day being officially married to the guy sitting next to her. For so many reasons. One of them being that every time she looked at him, she saw the reasons she loved him. And all the reasons she hated him. “The weather will be fine, but we should go as fast as we can. For multiple reasons. Did you get the right directions?”

“Right here.” He handed her an old paper map. Because why not? “That’s your job.”

“I thought you didn’t trust me with a map.”

“I trust you because I know you want this to be signed more than anybody.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you need to make sure I take the right turns.”

It meant she couldn’t stare out the window the whole time. “Turn right out of the lot.”

“I know that.”

“Well, you said to tell you where to go.” She almost regretted saying that. They needed to get through this without fighting or any more awkwardness than was expected. “Next turn is fifth street, but that should be a few minutes.” After that turn, it started to snow. Oliver started muttering, and shot her a look.

“I thought you said it wasn’t supposed to snow.”

“I said it said when I looked that it was supposed to be fine.”

“So it suddenly changed?”

“How am I supposed to know?” But it got worse in minutes. And then it started raining. When they momentarily lost control of the vehicle, her hand temporarily flew out towards the man driving. “Oliver…”

“I got it.” His words were clipped. Like he thought this was her fault. Which it was. She should never have agreed to coming up here on Christmas Eve. It wasn’t like she had anywhere to be, but Oliver did. What if something happened and they had to stay here? All hell would break loose. Literally and figuratively.

“Turn left at the next stop sign,” she said weakly. They were an hour into the mountainous territory, and the rain was getting worse. If she could call it rain. More like ice. Was it possible for it to rain ice? “Maybe we should head back.”

“No. We need to get this done.”

“But maybe it’d be better to go back and do this sometime else.”

“When?” He glanced at her for a split second, his eyes filled with anger. “Because I don’t want to make this trip again, and neither do you. So we’re going up the cabin, getting the signature, and making it home in time for Christmas dinner.”

“There’s a decent chance we don’t make it home alive.”

“Felicity.” Oliver huffed. “I’ve driven through much worse.” Even as he said that, the temperature dropped another degree. They were in for it. “We’ll be fine.”

She’d damned them both to an icy death. Felicity held on for death life as they drove. Even though they hadn’t skid for a few minutes. She couldn’t let herself relax. Her brain only saw William and Thea at Oliver’s funeral. The little boy without a father. And hers. Her friends from Central City. Jerry would be there. And it would all be her fault.

“Felicity, you gotta relax.”

“I can’t.”

“It’s just some ice.” Even though his muscles flexed as they went around a corner. “You have to trust me on this one.”

“That’s the problem. I _don_ _’_ _t_ trust you.” She dropped her hand from the ‘oh crap’ handle above her head. “I can’t trust you. I will never trust you. Not after everything you’ve done. And you know what the worst thing is?” She should’ve saved this for later. When they were almost home. Back to her house. “You have _no_ idea how much you hurt me!”

His mouth opened. Nothing came out. Of course. He couldn’t defend himself. Nor could he figure out how to apologize. She rubbed her fingers underneath her eyelids to catch any tears that might show. But maybe he needed to seem them. So that he knew how much pain he caused her. Or maybe she should just hide everything like always. It always worked so well.

 _Shut up, Felicity_.

There was silence for several minutes. Just snow. And ice. And every bad thing that could’ve happened.

Until Oliver cleared his throat. “Felicity…”

“Oliver, _don_ _’_ _t_.”

“No. I need to. Because I might not—”

Felicity screamed as the car started skidding. It wouldn’t have been a problem if they were in the middle of town, on a straight road, headed to the store. But they were going uphill. Around a corner. Oliver’s arm shot out across her body as they tipped. He yelled something, but her screaming cut it all out. Everything went upside down, and then up again.

There was a last chance to catch her breath as they righted again, but there was a cliff. She only knew that because she saw it a couple minutes ago. They were going to die. All because of her. Just because she needed these papers signed. Even if it killed her.

If only it didn’t have to kill him too.

Because even though he’d lied to her and broke her heart, Oliver Queen didn’t deserve to die like this.


	3. Chapter 3

_He couldn_ ' _t stop staring, even though people were starting to look. She still hadn_ _’_ _t seen him. But the boy had. The kid who looked exactly like him squinted, then tapped his mom. Samantha. Oliver squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to fight off the panic crashing into him like a tsunami. It wasn_ _’_ _t possible._

_But the boy looked like him._

_It could be possible if he looked back to the part of his life he didn't l_ _ike to think about._

_"Oliver."_

_He opened his eyes to see her standing in front of him, eyebrows furrowed, eyes suspicious._ _“_ _H-Hi."_

_"What are you doing here?_ _”_

_“_ _I_ _’_ _m visiting a friend._ _”_ _The idea of seeing Iris and Barry right now made him want to throw up. He wanted to run away. From all of this._ _“_ _I_... _what are you doing here?"_

_"We live here."_

_“_ _Who_ ' _s we?"_

_"Me. And my son."_

_Oliver swallowed. He needed his wife. Needed to wrap her in his arms and never let go. His dad told him as a kid that pasts always came back to haunt. Only differences were that some were bad and some were good. His was bad. So, so bad._

_And Felicity knew of none of it._

_“_ Y _our son?_ _”_ _He leveled his gaze at her so that he could gauge her reaction._ _“Is_ _he my son too?"_

Everything hurt. His fingers touched something slippery. Probably blood. When he tried to get his eyes open, the pounding increased. He reached his hand out, trying to pull himself together. Car. Snow. There was definitely snow. And ice. And someone was—

“ _Felicity_!” He screamed her name, forcing his eyes open to find her. She was lying next to him, unmoving. “Oh, God.” He fumbled with the seatbelt that kept him from getting to her. It finally came undone, but his body moved in slow motion. His hand slipped on blood, which nearly made him bang his head again.

Her chest moved.

He sucked in a deep breath that was released in a sob. One of pure thankfulness. She was alive. Somehow, they both were. He wiped some of the blood off his fingers and reached out to grab her hand. “Felicity.” He got closer to her to examine her injuries. Blood on the side of her head. A gash on her arm from glass.

But she was alive.

He searched for his phone, though it wouldn’t help much. It was dead, and they wouldn’t get any reception. Especially down here. They needed to get out of here. He wasn’t skilled in the outdoors like some guys, but he knew enough to know that they would die out here in no time if they didn’t get help, especially if his ex-wife had a head injury.

“Felicity.” He tapped her cheek again, willing her to open her eyes. “Honey, wake up. You gotta wake up.” He didn’t realize the pet name he called her until his voice cracked on her name. He couldn’t lose her again. “Please wake up.”

But she wouldn’t. Her head wound was worse than it looked. They needed to get out of here before the injury caused permanent damage. If it hadn’t done that already. _God_ _…_ He pushed himself up, wincing as pain shot through his leg. Everything ached as he opened the door above them to get out. He pulled himself up, then dipped his upper half back into the vehicle to wrap his arms around Felicity’s waist.

She was so light.

_“_ S _o we_ ' _re married._ _”_ _Felicity sat next to him in the limo, her fingers fiddling with her ring. He couldn_ _’_ _t help but grab her hand and kiss it. She moved closer to him and returned the kisses on his lips._ _“_ _That_ _’_ _s how I feel about that fact._ _”_

_He tucked her closer to his body, close enough that he wanted to yell at the limo driver to hurry up and get them to their hotel._ _“_ _I_ _’_ _m happy too._ _”_

_“_ _Just happy? But don_ _’_ _t open your mouth. We all know that you don_ _’_ _t like describing your emotions. Saying you_ 'r _e happy must be painful for you._ _”_

_“_ _No, it_ _’_ _s true."_   _He leaned forward and tapped the glass._ _“_ _Hey, can you speed it up a bit? We'l_ _l pay you an extra fifty if you can be there in five minutes._ _”_

_Felicity rolled her eyes._ _“_ _Oliver, the guy_ _’_ _s gonna have to go twenty over the speed limit. Which is okay. But I also don_ _’_ _t want to get be one of those brides who gets arrested in their wedding dress. Which would be quite the picture on the front page of the newspaper in the morning._ _”_

_“_ _I doubt that if we got pulled over, we_ _’_ _d be arrested._ _”_

_“_ _I don_ _’_ _t know._ _”_ _Felicity fingered with the edge of her sparkling, lace dress._ _“_ _I might_ _’_ _ve done a few illegal things in college._ _”_

_Seemed like they should_ 'v _e talked about that before marriage. Oliver bit his lip and forced his face into a disapproving look. The laughter built up in his chest as panic raced across Felicity_ _’_ _s face. She scooted a little further away from her, her eyes wide._

_“_ _You didn_ _’_ _t think to tell me that?_ _”_

_“_ _No! Mostly because I never got caught! Ooooh, yikes. That_ 's _terrible._ _”_

_He burst out laughing. Enough giving her a heart attack._ _“_ _I_ _’_ _m sorry, Felicity. It_ _’_ _s fine. Is there anything else that you need to tell me?_ _”_

_“On_ _e time I punched a dude for being a flirt._ _”_ _She wiggled her eyebrows at him and leaned in closer to kiss him again._ _“_ _But I give you full permission to be as flirty as you want. Because you_ _’_ _re my husband now._ _”_ _Her fingers traced his cheek, a smile on her face._ _“_ _I never imagined this happening. Not after all that_ _’_ _s gone on in my life._ _”_

_He knew about that. All of the pain her parents caused her. The lack of trust. And he was determined to prove that not all men were like her father._

_“_ _So. Do you have any last-minute secrets that I should know about before we consummate our marriage?_ _”_

_“_ _No._ _”_ _He didn_ _’_ _t. Not really. Oliver kissed her, and maintained his lips on hers until the limo pulled over and stopped. They tipped the driver a hundred, since Felicity had plenty of money laying around, thanks to being the CEO of a million-dollar company. They walked hand-in-hand to their bedroom door. Felicity unlocked it, then turned around and smiled at him._

_“_ _Ready?_ _”_

_He lifted her up into his arms. She was so light. So perfect for him._

Oliver nearly dropped her as the memory hit him straight in the face. He finished pulling Felicity out of the wrecked, on-its-side car, and lowered her gently to the snowy ground. At least it had stopped raining ice. But the snow poured down in buckets. He shrugged off his coat and laid her on top of it, then climbed back into the car. He stored blankets and an emergency pack in the back for moments like this that he always prayed he’d never have to encounter.

Especially with Felicity.

“ _Oliver_?” Her scream ripped through him. One laced with pain and panic. Everything that he never wanted to hear. He tossed the backpack out of the door and dropped down to the snow next to Felicity.

“I’m here. I’m here!” He put his hands on her cheeks, clenching his jaw when he touched the blood. “I’m here, Felicity. It’s okay.” Her eyes looked at him as she couldn’t see him. For just an instant, he wondered if she’d forgotten. Because it had been over a year and a half since her hands clenched his so tightly. Like he was her lifeline.

“You’re…” she sucked in air, but started to cough. “You’re alive.”

“Yeah.” Somehow. “I am. We both are.”

“Everything hurts.” She rubbed her hand over her forehead. Her eyes widened when she saw the blood. “How long have I been out?”

“Way too long.” He stopped himself from touching her cheek again. “We need to get you outa here.”

“There no way we can sit in the car and wait for someone to find us in this place?”

He looked up at the hill that they went over. It was straight ice. It would be like that for miles. As they drove, he paid attention to how bad the roads got, and also noted the death that would happen if they skidded and went over the side. “The sky’s not looking any better.”

“And it’ll get dark soon.” She was slurring her words. He looked up at the hill. They couldn’t make it up there. The roads wouldn’t be any better. If he had to carry her, he’d end up falling over the cliff again thanks to the ice. “Oliver?”

“Yeah, hon?” _Crap_. “That…that wasn’t…”

“It’s okay. We’re gonna die anyways.” Her eyes fluttered closed.

“Hey, hey.” He tapped her cheek, which forced her to open her eyes to glare at him. “You gotta stay awake.”

“I’m…tired.”

“I know, but if you go to sleep, then I’ll be alone.” _And I don_ _’_ _t want to do this alone_. “C’mon, Felicity. Stay awake. For me.” He sounded like a petty little child pleading to his mom. “Please?”

“Fine.” She sounded grumpier, but it was a good sign. He liked his grumpy wife. Loved her, actually. That was a terrifiying fact that hammered in his head almost as hard as his headache. He was stupid to let her go.

“Thanks. I’m gonna put the backpack on and then we’ll head down the mountain, okay?”

“Can I sing ‘Climb Every Mountain’ as we go?”

He had no idea what she was referencing.

“Oh. Duh. I forgot you don’t like musicals. _The Sound of Music_ , dummy. We should watch it sometime. I mean…not we! You. And me. Alone. At our houses.” She clamped her mouth shut. “It’s a good movie.”

“Thea loved it as a kid.”

“And you spent your time watching _Die Hard_?”

“I don’t regret a single moment.” He did. A lot of moments. But right now, they were focused on surviving. Getting down the mountain because no one would make it down or up in the next several hours with the complete layer of ice on the roads. “I’m gonna carry you, okay?” When she nodded, he scooped her up and settled her in his arms. “Comfortable?”

“It’s been awhile since I’ve been in this position.”

_Felicity_ _…_ he didn’t want to think about that.

Because they were _technically_ still married.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean it that way. I meant it in a very…” she gulped, “platonic way.”

He just started down the hill. It would be slow going, especially when it got any darker out. Felicity shivered in his arms, giving him multiple things to worry about. He didn’t care about his own body as much as he cared about Felicity, but the headache was gradually getting worse.

The wind whipped into his face. Of course it was blowing against them. Every few seconds, he had to shift Felicity so he could wipe his eyes free from the ice and snow. Twice she asked to be let down, but at least in his arms, he could protect her from the wind. She kept her face buried in his jacket, leaving him to navigate the ground alone.

His foot slipped on ice. Ice-skating ice, because he could catch himself. Felicity screamed as they went down, but twisted at the last minute so that he landed first, then his ex-wife on top of him. Pain shot up and down his body. Worse than before.

Now he couldn’t breathe.

“Oh, oh!” Felicity scrambled up to a sitting position next to him, her hands going nowhere close to his face. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry. I should’ve been watching too.” As his breathing still didn’t come back, she crawled closer to him, her hands inching from his chest up towards his cheeks. Maybe if just kept doing this… “Seriously, Oliver. Breathe. I do not want to die out here because you had a heart attack!”

“It’s not a…heart attack.” Though he wished. At least that might warm him up. “I just knocked my back wrong.” He wanted to bring his knees up to his chest and let out a loud groan. But if he let himself feel the pain, they would never leave here. “We gotta keep going.”

“Right. Just after we rest a bit.” She leaned back on her heels and closed her eyes. “It’s dark out anyways, Oliver. We’ll crash into a tree. Fall down a slope. There’s a lot of things that could lead to death.”

“Including freezing.”

“Better than falling to death.”

Oliver sighed and led his head fall back against the hard, cold ground. “I have a son to get home to, Felicity. I’m not dying out here.” He couldn’t let William suffer the same fate he and his sister endured. Without his parents, he fell apart. In more ways than one. William would have his mom, but without a dad, kids didn’t work right. They could make it, but why just make it when they could both be there?

He needed to get home to his little boy.

“Let’s go.” He sat up and forced himself to stand. His vision swirled. His lungs burned. “Oh, dear God.” Felicity cushioned his fall when he lost his balance and crashed to the ground again. “I broke something. And…” everything just sank. All his hopes. Dreams. All of it went down the dumpster. “Not just your heart.”

“Oliver.” She rolled her eyes. “Not the time for dramatic words from the man who doesn’t do anything dramatically.”

“I’m not…” he _was_ being dramatic. “Felicity…”

“Oliver!” She jammed her elbow into his side. Which didn’t help at all with the pain, but it did snap him awake. “Stop it. Is there are a fire starter kit in that bag?”

“Yeah.”

“Then let’s start a fire. We can warm up and then move. I’ll gather some sticks. You catch your breath.” With a grunt, she was up and stumbling towards a fallen tree. Oliver got up onto his hands and knees and started clearing a spot for the fire. If they expected to survive the next few hours, they needed heat. As he dug through the ice and found a fire starter in the backpack, his fingers went from freezing to completely numb.

“Got some wood! And by wood, I mean sticks that will hopefully burn.” She set them down and squatted down and started piling them in the space he cleared. “Please tell me that you were in Boy Scouts as a kid.”

“I told you I was.”

“Really? When?”

He could distinctly remember it was after a Saturday morning of enjoying the perks of married life, but telling her that wouldn’t go well. Especially since they weren’t getting away from each other for another several hours.

“ _Oh_.” Her face went from red from the cold to scarlet in remembrance. “Let’s not speak of that. I would love to get through this without any other problems.”

They stayed silent as he lit the fire and got it going enough that it could actually give off heat. When it crackled, Felicity raised her hand and shouted, “High five!” Oliver smiled through a nearly frozen face and gave her a high-five. As soon as their hands touched, Felicity pulled away. Just like she always did. “Is there any way that people would find us in the next…hour?”

“Why?” He gave her a nudge. “Don’t want to spend any more time with me?”

“Let’s not forget our past.”

She thought of the bad. He thought of that and the good. “Yeah. Of course.” He leaned forward and held his hands out towards the fire. They would have to talk about it at some point. It would be just their luck to be stranded here for days on end after they got into a fight about the reasons for their divorce. More than what their families and friends thought.

He looked around at their resting spot. They had multiple options. None of them were good. “Look in the pack and see what you can find in there.”

“Like a gun for if and when the wolves show up?”

“They’re won’t.”  

Her eyebrows rose. “You’re going to fend them off?”

“I can’t even walk.”

“It was a rhetorical question.” She tucked her gloved hands into her pockets and stared at the crackling fire. After several seconds, she glanced at him with less of a glint in her eye. “When we left this morning, I never thought that this would happen. I expected more…fighting. Less dying.”

“We’re not dead yet.”

“Maybe not. But we might.” She shrugged. “It’s snowing. Windy. You’re hurt. I’m hurt. No one’s gonna try to find us because it’s too icy. I mean…” she sniffed and wiped her nose. “Oliver…”

“Hey.” He pushed himself up and scooted closer to her. “Felicity, we’re gonna be okay. We aren’t dead yet, remember? We’re still here. We have a fire. We have blankets. And we have each other.” Maybe she’d rather freeze to death than to cuddle him. “It’ll be okay.”

“That’s the problem.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know.”

Back in the day, she always got around to telling him at some point. So he waited. Tried to warm up his fingers. Also tried to work out the kink in his back and his leg. They both hurt. Going downhill would hurt. But he would do anything to get back to William and Thea. And to save Felicity.

They were here partly because of him, if he traced it all the way back. Back to his decision to be a party animal after his parents died. Without them telling him what to do, he went off the deep end. It led him to the bars, and to bedrooms he never should have entered. And though the most precious person in his life came from it, he dug his grave during those years.

As he sat there, waiting for Felicity to talk, he went through every decision he made from the end of his parents’ funeral to now. He partied. Had sex. Did all sorts of things that people never knew about. Maybe if his family was famous. And Felicity never knew about it because he didn’t want her to, which meant that when he found out about William, he couldn’t let her know.

She stirred. He pulled himself away from his thoughts and looked at her. His wife. The woman he hurt so much. But also the woman he loved. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and comfort her, but she wouldn’t let him because of the pain he caused her.

With tears in her eyes, Felicity looked at him and whispered, “What’s waiting for me down there?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well....the last chapters might not be up before Christmas. *Crosses fingers* I had a bit of a surprise and ended up working more than I thought I would this week. (Which is also kinda great.) But don't be too expectant of the chapters before the 25th. 
> 
> So MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! Thank you for being the best readers ever. I love the beautiful comments that I receive, and I thank God for every person who has ever left a kind comment or a kudo on any of my fics. May God bless you with an amazing Christmas!!


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